PGA Tour star Hideki Matsuyama embodies attidude it takes to be a winner on the PGA Tour.
Cool, calm, and collected.
It’s this attitude that helped the Japanese golfer win multiple PGA Tour titles, including The Masters.
But that all got put to the test in a serious way, and proved this guy’s got the guts to handle all kind of adversity on and off the golf course.
Fresh off a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, Matsuyama revealed that he — and members of his team — were all robbed at a London airport while traveling home from the Olympics.
Hideki Matsuyama robbed in London airport after Olympics while headed to PGA Tour playoffs https://t.co/dDsEdqlFcS
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 15, 2024
Matsuyama told sports media outlet Outkick that he, his caddie Shota Hayato, and coach Mikihito Kuromiya fell victim while at a restaurant during their quick stopover.
Matsuyama said had his wallet stolen, his caddie and coach also had their visas and passports stolen, which has resulted in a legitimate life-changing moment, at least for a brief time, for all involved.
“We didn’t even know it happened,” he said. “We were just having a friendly dinner, and Shota was the first one – ‘Hey, where is my bag?’ “Of course it was frustrating, but we really didn’t know it happened. It was just kind of all of a sudden. Yeah, he just took it and ran.”
Matsuyama’s coach and caddie were forced to return to Japan given that they are now without documentation and are rushing to have their passports and visas reissued so they can link back up with Matsuyama as soon as possible.
A report from Golf Digest Japan said that the earliest Kuromiya and Hayato can travel to the United States would be just before the Tour Championship, the final event of the season, in two weeks.
The wrinkle in all this?
Matsuyama is teeing it up this week at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis without his regular caddie.
Having a wallet and passport stolen thousands of miles away from home is enough to rattle anyone. But the experience of almost being stranded in Europe did’t seem to get into Matsuyama’s head too much as as he shot a first-round 65 yesterday.
“I’ve forgotten it completely. It’s not even an issue now,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter in Memphis. “It was an unfortunate situation.”
Matsuyama is currently the eight-ranked golfer in the world.